More than a third of people will spend some time in a nursing home, where the median annual cost of a private room is well over $100,000, says Genworth’s 2018 Cost of Care Survey. Don’t expect those numbers to go down.

Four of ten people will opt for paid care at home, and the median annual cost of a home health aide is more than $50,000.

Half of people over 65 will eventually need some kind of long-term care costs, and about 15% of those will incur more than $250,000 in costs, according to a joint study conducted by Vanguard Research and Mercer Health and Benefits.

Medicare and even private health insurance don’t cover what are considered “custodial” expenses. That’s going to quickly wipe out the median retirement savings of most people: $126,000. With savings completely exhausted, people will find themselves qualifying for Medicaid, a government health program for the indigent that pays for about half of all nursing home and custodial care.

Those who live alone, have a chronic condition or are in poor health have a greater chance of needing long-term care. Women in particular are at risk, as they tend to outlive their husbands and may not have anyone available to provide them with unpaid care. If a husband’s illness wipes out the couple’s savings, the surviving spouse is at risk of spending their last years living on nothing but a Social Security benefit.

The best hedge against long-term care costs is to purchase a long-term care insurance policy, if you are eligible to purchase one. Wait too long, and you may not be able. One woman persuaded her parents to purchase a long-term insurance policy when her father was 68 and her mother was 54. Five years into the policy, her father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The policy covered almost the entire cost of his 24-hour care in the final months of his life. Her mother lived to 94, so the investment in the policy was well worth it.

Everyone approaching retirement needs a plan for long-term care costs. That may be purchasing long-term care insurance, speaking with a qualified elder law attorney, or purchasing a hybrid life insurance product with long-term care benefits. If there is no insurance and one member of the couple is still alive, getting a reverse mortgage may be an option.

Lynda Faye planned to spend her retirement gardening and visiting eight grandchildren. Instead, she is caring for her mother, 99-year-old Yetta Meisel. The former art teacher is busy all day long, helping her mother bathe, making meals, picking up prescriptions, scheduling home aides and transporting a wheelchair for excursions, reports The New York Times in the article “At 75, Taking Care of Mom, 99: ‘We Did Not Think She Would Live This Long.’”

Ms. Faye and her mother are part of what is expected to be a growing phenomenon, of children in their 60s and 70s who are devoting their retirement years to caring for parents who are in their 90s and beyond.

The financial cost of caring for an older parent is not an easy one. In Ms. Faye’s case, she persuaded her parents to move to their hometown. An addition was added to the Faye’s home, but her parents chose to move to a three-bedroom condo nearby. The Faye’s turned the addition into a bed-and-breakfast suite.

When Mrs. Meisel’s husband died, she qualified for a state program that paid some of the costs of home aides. While Mrs. Faye kept the B&B busy, she paid for 24/7 care and other expenses for her mother from the $25,000 nest egg that her father had. In a few short years, that money was gone.

Now the family home is on the market. Mrs. Faye and her husband have moved into their mother’s condo. Her mother lives in a one-bedroom unit in the same building. To save money, Ms. Faye cut back on the home aides and cares for her mother herself three days a week. Her mother’s Social Security and the state program pay for the balance of her care. There’s an additional $1,000 needed every month, which comes from Ms. Fay’s pension.

With no assets, her 99-year-old mother does qualify for nursing care paid by Medicaid. However, Ms. Faye has made the decision not to go that route. She considers herself fortunate to have a living mother with a good sense of humor who appreciates what her daughter has done and is doing for her.

A study being conducted on the relationships of 120 parents who are 90 and older and children who are 65 and older found that many late-in-life caregivers suffer from their own failing health, which can worsen with the stress, physical tasks and isolation that accompanies caregiving. It can be tough financially, when retirement funds are needed for caregiving. If the child does not have a good relationship with the parent, it can become toxic.

It may be helpful to seek professional advice to find out what financial and caregiving resources are available. Children who are draining their own retirement savings should consider a nursing home that accepts Medicaid. A geriatric care manager will be able to help estimate the costs of different types of care a parent may need over time, and a financial advisor can assess how much the caregiver can afford before their own retirement is at risk.

A power of attorney is an important legal document that allows a person, known as the principal, to designate a person of their choice to become their agent, acting on their behalf. This is usually done when the principal is unable to manage their financial affairs due to disability, illness or incapacity. It must be done while the principal is still competent, notes Delco Times in the article “What’s the difference between guardianship and power of attorney?” There are also instances when power of attorney is used when the principal is unable to conduct their own affairs, because they are traveling or are deployed overseas.

Related documents are the health care power of attorney and the durable power of attorney. A durable financial power of attorney is a document where the principal designates the powers that the agent may exercise over their finances. The powers granted by this document can be used by the agent, regardless of the principal’s capacity or disability.

The principal has the option to grant very broad authority to their agent. For instance, the principal could give their agent the authority to gift all their assets, while they are still living. That’s why it is very important for the specific provisions in the power of attorney to be carefully reviewed and tailored to the principal’s wishes. There are risks in naming an agent, since they are able to exercise complete control over the principal’s assets. The agent must be 100% trustworthy.

A health care power of attorney allows an agent to make decisions about the principal’s health. Note that this document is operative only when a copy is provided to the attending physician, and the physician determines that the principal is incompetent.

Both health care power of attorney and financial power of attorney may be revoked by the principal at any time and for any reason.

If the principal has not had these documents prepared in advance and then becomes incompetent by reason of injury, illness, or mental health issues, they may not have the legal right to sign the power of attorney. When this happens, it is necessary for a guardianship proceeding to occur, so that other people may be named to take charge of the person’s financial and health affairs. Advance planning is always preferred.

If an individual is born with a disability that impacts their capacity and upon attaining legal age, does not have the capacity to sign a power of attorney, then a guardianship proceeding will be necessary. The court must determine if the person is truly incapacitated and if there might be an alternative to appointing a guardian. Once the guardian is appointed, the principal no longer has the legal right to make decisions on their own behalf.

A guardianship is a much more restrictive tool than a power of attorney. For one thing, the power of attorney generally does not need the involvement of the court. There is always the possibility that a guardian is appointed who does not know the family or the individual. A durable power of attorney allows a person to appoint someone they know and trust to help them and their family, if and when they become incapacitated.

Speak with your estate planning attorney about how power of attorney works, and when guardianship issues might arise. Being prepared in advance by having the right documents in place, is always better than having the family going to court and hoping that the right decisions are made.

You might start by remodeling or retrofitting your home to suit senior-specific issues, such as decreased mobility or impaired eyesight (think replacing a bathtub with a walk-in shower or improved lighting). Some seniors add a first-floor bedroom and bathroom and an outdoor ramp onto their homes. Other changes can include wider doorways (the better to potentially accommodate a wheelchair or walker), a bathroom with grab bars and an easy-access shower.

This is known as universal design, which means building or remodeling a home to accommodate all ages and abilities. It can usually be implemented or planned by builders or contractors who are Certified Aging in Place Specialists (CAPS), an educational designation offered by the National Association of Home Builders.

Even if you can’t afford a major remodel, there are some simple changes you can do, like installing shower grab bars or improving interior and exterior lighting to avoid falls and other accidents. You can also secure throw rugs to the floor with special two-sided tape to prevent slips.

You can speak with an elder law attorney about health agencies, resources for financial assistance, elder abuse prevention, as well as estate planning, Medicare, Medicaid and other state programs.

Keep busy by taking yoga at the local rec center, business or computer classes at the public library, or even getting a roommate to help combat loneliness and keep feeling connected and emotionally healthy.

For dining, in addition to the community-based food delivery from Meals on Wheels, you can get restaurant food or groceries delivered to your home by services, such as Uber Eats, Caviar and Peapod.

There are also a number of meal prep companies—Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, and others—that make it easier to put a healthy meal on the table, without the need to journey to the grocery store.

You’ve heard about death and taxes. While having a plan for your death may not be a big priority, creating a plan for your family when you pass is something everyone should do.

WHNT’s recent article, “How to plan for life after death,” says the first step is having that conversation with someone you trust. It may be a close friend, a family member or an attorney.

Next, think about some important considerations like what you want in terms of a funeral service, burial or cremation, if you want life insurance to pay your last expenses and how your estate should be handled.

The National Institute on Aging has created a comprehensive list of considerations for those who are facing end of life decisions. It’s also a great resource for caretakers.

This planning will may make the process easier for those you leave behind, especially if you work with an experienced estate planning attorney.

There are also some fundamental decisions that can also ease the financial burden on your loved ones.

The average North American traditional funeral costs between $7,000 and $10,000. This price range includes the services at the funeral home, burial in a cemetery and the installation of a headstone at the cemetery.

The National Funeral Directors Association reports that the median cost to move the remains of a loved one to a funeral home in the U.S. is $325. Embalming can run about $725, and the average cost of a vault in the United States is $1,395, as of 2017.

According to the 2018 NFDA Cremation & Burial Report, the 2018 cremation rate is estimated to be 53.5%, and the burial rate is projected to be 40.5%.

Forbes says that roughly 42% of people opt to be cremated because of the costs involved with a standard funeral in the United States.

Estate planning helps to create a strategy for managing assets while we are living and their distribution when we pass away. That includes determining what happens to our tangible property as well as financial investments, retirement accounts, etc. An estate plan can also be used to protect the well-being of our beloved companion animals, says The Balance in the article “Estate Planning for Fido: How to Set Up a Pet Trust.”

Pet trusts were once thought of as something only for extremely wealthy or eccentric individuals, but today many ‘regular’ people use pet trusts to ensure that if they die before their pets, their pets will have a secure future.

Every state and the District of Columbia, except for Washington, now has laws governing the creation and use of pet trusts. Knowing how they work and what they can and cannot do will be helpful if you are considering having a pet trust made as part of your estate plan.

When you set up a trust, you are the “grantor.” You have the authority as creator of the trust to direct how you want the assets in the trust to be managed, for yourself and any beneficiaries of the trust. The same principal holds true for pet trusts. You set up the trust and name a trustee. The trustee oversees the money and any other assets placed in the trust for the pet’s benefit. Those funds are to be used to pay for the pet’s care and related expenses. These expenses can include:

Regular care by a veterinarian,

Emergency veterinarian care,

Grooming, and

Feeding and boarding costs.

A pet trust can also be used to provide directions for end of life care and treatment for pets, as well as burial or cremation arrangements you may want for your pet.

In most instances, the pet trust, once established, remains in place for the entire life span of the pet. Some states, however, place a time limit on how long a pet trust can continue. For animals with very long lives, like certain birds or horses, you’ll want to be sure the pet trust will be created to last for the entire life span of your pet. In several states, the limit is 21 years.

An estate planning attorney who has experience with pet trusts will know the laws of your state, so you’ll be able to create a pet trust for your pet.

Creating a pet trust is like creating any other type of trust. An estate planning attorney can help with drafting the documents, helping you select a trustee, and if you’re worried about your pet outliving the first trustee, naming any successor trustees.

Here are some things to consider when setting up your pet’s trust:

What’s your pet’s current standard of living and care?

What kind of care do you expect the pet’s new caregiver to offer?

Who do you want to be the pet’s caregiver, and who should be the successor caregivers?

How often should the caregiver report on the pet’s status to the trustee?

How long you expect the pet to live?

How likely your pet is to develop a serious illness?

How much money do you think your pet’s caregiver will need to cover all pet-related expenses?

What should happen to the money, if any remains in the pet trust, after the pet passes away?

The last item is important if you don’t want any funds to disappear. You might want to have the money split up to your beneficiaries to your will, or you may want to have it donated to charity. The pet trust needs to include a contingency plan for these scenarios.

Another point: think about when you want the pet trust to go into effect. You may not expect to become incapacitated, but these things do happen. Your pet trust can be designed to become effective if you become incapacitated.

Make sure the pet trust clearly identifies your pet so no one can abuse its terms and access trust funds fraudulently. One way to do this is to have your pet microchipped and record the chip number in the pet document. Also include photos of your pet and a physical description.

Be as specific as necessary when creating the document. If there are certain types of foods that you use, list them. If there are regular routines that your pet is comfortable with and that you’d like the caregiver to continue, then detail them. The more information you can provide, the more likely it will be that your pet will continue to live as they did when you were taking care of them.

Finally, make sure that your estate planning attorney, the trustee, and the pet’s designated caregiver all have a copy of your pet trust, so they are certain to follow your wishes.

You’ve worked hard for decades, saving and planning for retirement. Don’t put it at risk by delaying having an estate plan created by a qualified estate planning attorney, advises The Press of Atlantic City in the article “Estate planning for your digital and cyber assets.” But here’s the thing: even when you have a comprehensive estate plan in place, meaning a last will and testament, a power of attorney, a health care power of attorney and the appropriate trusts, you’re not quite done.

That’s because today we have an entirely new type of property that must be dealt with in estate planning. Unlike tangible property that people have been handing down for centuries, this is a relatively new kind of property: digital assets. One of the problems with digital assets is that, unlike paper documents, your family members can’t simply sift through decades of physical records to find out what you own. The online world is endless, and if they don’t know what websites to look at, there’s simply no way that they can find your digital assets.

Online bill paying, like utilities, EZ-Pass, and any automatic payments

Websites or blogs

You’ll want to let your executor know what you want to be done with your digital assets. Some platforms have the ability for you to express your wishes for your digital assets, like Facebook. What do you want to happen to your pages when you are gone? Do you want people to be able to see your pages, or to post on them? Would you want them to be taken down a month after you pass, or left up permanently?

You’ll need to list out all your digital assets, your username and your passwords, and provide a directive to specifically state what you want to happen to each website. Yes, it will take time and it may be tedious, but imagine how challenging it will be for your family members to try to track down all your digital assets. Speak with your estate planning attorney as to how to share this information—but don’t put it in a will, because your will becomes a public document if your estate goes through probate (which happens to most wills).

Just as you have taken the time to have an estate plan created, making sure to have a digital assets plan is a gift to your loved ones. With these details taken care of, your family will be able to focus their attention on taking care of each other, dealing with your estate, and going through the grief process. You’ll have spared them a lot of additional stress and expenses.

An estate planning attorney will be well worth the investment. You can be confident that your will is going to be prepared in accordance with the laws of your state, and that your family will be protected as you wished.

Should you pay off your debts first, if you have any? Make a list of your debt balances and their interest rates. If the interest rate is high, pay it off. If it’s low, you may be better off investing the funds.

Next, check on your emergency fund. If you don’t have three to six months’ worth of living expenses on hand, use your inheritance to ramp up that fund. Yes, you can use credit cards sometimes. However, having at least two months’ worth of living expenses in cash is worthwhile.

The third step is to contribute the most you can to a health savings account (HSA), if your employer does not contribute to it and if you have a qualifying health plan. That’s $3,500 if you are single, $7,000 for families and add $1,000, if you are over 55. This gets you a nice tax deduction and withdrawals are tax-free, as long as they are used for qualified medical expenses.

If you’re still working, and depending upon the size of the inheritance, it might be time to “tax-shift” your portfolio.

Let’s say you regularly contribute $3,000 to a 401(k). If you can, increase that amount by $22,000, to the maximum, if you’re 50 and older. Since your paycheck decreases, so does your tax. If your tax rate is currently 22%, you’ll only need to add $17,160 from your inherited account to reach the same spendable dollars. The tax-deferred account in your portfolio will grow faster, while the taxable account shrinks.

Think about whether to commingle funds with your significant other or not. Let’s say you and your spouse have a retirement portfolio. You both can spend it now, maybe on your house. The inheritance may also help you to retire earlier. If you save the inheritance, keeping it in a separate account with only your name on it, it remains your asset, in case of a divorce. Most states will consider this money a non-marital asset, and not subject to division between divorcing parties.

Consider using the inheritance as a way to avoiding tapping into retirement accounts. Withdrawals from IRAs are taxable. If you’re not worried about commingling funds or investment gains, then use the inherited account to minimize the tax losses from retirement accounts.

Most people don’t have enough saved to keep spending during retirement as they did while working. Skip the spending spree that often follows an inheritance and enjoy the money over an extended period of time.

Receiving an inheritance is one of the times when a review of your estate plan becomes a wise move. A new financial position may require more tax planning and more legacy planning.

That’s the short answer to the question, which is often asked in a roundabout manner: “How much am I allowed to gift?” There are more details in the complete answer, as reported in The Mercury’s article, “Can I gift more than $15,000?” You can gift as much as you wish, to whomever you wish, but you do have to know the tax implications.

A total of $10,000 used to be the annual exclusionary gift amount, which is now $15,000. However, that figure has less significance than it used to have.

In 2019, the annual exclusionary gift limit is $15,000. If you give away up to but no more than $15,000 in a calendar year to one or more individuals, whether that gift is in cash or any property of value, you don’t have to file the federal tax form, known as Form 709. If you gift more than that amount, you need to file that form.

However, the taxpayer for a gift tax form is the person who gives the gift, and not the person receiving the gift.

If you gift more than $15,000, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to pay a Federal gift tax. It’s actually unlikely, even if you have to file the form.

Here’s another point: it’s actually pretty easy to give away more than $15,000 and not have to exceed the annual exclusionary amount, and even technically being required to file a Form 709. How is that possible?

You are permitted to gift an unlimited amount to your spouse, as long as your spouse is an American citizen. The rules are different for non-citizens.

If you are married and want to help out a child who is also married with children, you and your spouse may gift $15,000 each to your son (there’s $30,000) and also to your son’s spouse (another $30,000) and to each of your son’s children, however many grandchildren you may have. If you want to compound your gifting, you can make that same gift every year.

The federal estate and gift tax are “unified.” This allows you to give away any property above the annual exclusionary gift amount or for your heirs to inherit a total of $11.4 million currently, without paying gift or estate taxes. Unless your combined lifetime estate giveaways are subject to gift tax and your estate on death is valued at more than $11.4 million, there’s no need to worry about that gift tax.

There are other ways to be generous. If you pay for someone else’s medical care (and pay directly to the medical care provider, not to the person), or for someone else’s college tuition (pay directly to the college and not to the person), you can give an unlimited amount to that person, without having to file a gift tax form or making a gift tax payment.

Charitable gifts are also except from the reporting requirement, providing that no interest in the gifted assets is retained by the person gifting.

There are several reasons why you might want to file a gift tax return. One might be to keep track of the value of the gift at the time it was given. If the asset has increased in value since the purchase, both you and the party receiving it may need to track its value, as of the date of the gift. This is the concept known as basis. If the person sells the gift, this will be necessary to determine federal taxes regarding profit or losses.

An experienced estate planning attorney will be able to help determine how gifting can fit in with your overall estate plan. Every situation is unique, and you want to be sure that your gifting strategy fits in with creating a legacy and tax planning.

One of the most complicated and fear-inducing aspects of Medicaid is the financial eligibility. The rules for the cost of long-term care are complicated and can be difficult to understand. This is especially true when the Medicaid applicant is married, reports Delco Times in the article “Medicaid–Protecting Assets for a Spouse.”

Generally speaking, to be eligible for Medicaid long-term care, the applicant may not have more than $2,400 in countable assets in their name, if their gross monthly income is $2,313 or more. That’s the 2019 income limit.

There are Federal laws that mandate certain protections for a spouse, so they do not become impoverished when their spouse enters a nursing home and applies for Medicaid. This is where advance planning with an experienced elder law attorney is needed. The spouse of a Medicaid recipient living in a nursing home, who is referred to as the Community Spouse, is permitted to keep as much as $126,420 and a minimum of $25,284, known as the “Community Spouse Resource Allowance,” without putting the Medicaid eligibility of the spouse who needs long-term care at risk.

Determining the Community Spouse Resource Allowance requires totaling the countable assets of both the community spouse and the spouse in the long-term care facility, as of the date of admission to the nursing home. The date of admission is referred to as the “snapshot” date. The community spouse is also permitted to keep one-half of the couple’s total countable assets up to a maximum of $126,420 in 2019 and no less than the minimum of $25,284. The rest of the assets must be spent down.

Countable assets for Medicaid include all belongings. However, there are a few exceptions. These are personal possessions, including jewelry, clothing and furniture, one car, the applicant’s principal residence (if the equity in the home does not exceed $585,500 in 2019) and assets that are considered inaccessible, such as a spouse’s retirement accounts.

Unless an asset is specifically excluded, it is countable.

There are also Federal rules regarding how much the spouse is permitted to earn. This varies by state. In Pennsylvania, the spouse is permitted to keep all of their own income, regardless of the amount.

The rules regarding requests for additional income are also very complicated, so an elder law attorney’s help will be needed to ensure that the spouse’s income aligns with their state’s requirements.

These are complicated matters, and not easily navigated. Talk with an experienced elder law estate planning attorney to help plan in advance, if possible. There are many different strategies for Medicaid applications, and they are best handled with experienced professional help.